Festival atmosphere as 15,000 turn up for Waitangi Day amid warnings of racial division

It was a day that began with the leaders and ended with the people.

Before dawn, the powers of the land gathered for the Waitangi Day service. The day closed with a big party at which about 15,000 people rubbed elbows, ate large and listened to good music.

That number had grown from the 2000 who gathered before dawn at Te Whare Rūnanga where the multi-faith service was hosted by Bishop Te Kitohi Pikaahu. As the dignitaries arrived and rain threatened he told those gathered: “Probably the duty of the church now is to pray for fine weather.”

The rain stayed a drizzle as the service made its way towards an overcast dawn with prayer and reflection focused on what had happened on this day 183 years earlier.

“Hold before us the words at Waitangi signed by Māori and Pakeha alike in 1840 to confirm their covenant,” said Te Runanga a iwi o Ngapuhi’s Phoebe Davis.

The Methodist Church’s general secretary Tara Tautari told the crowd: “We remind ourselves of the principle of an enduring, respectful and honest pledge between two peoples.”

Short blessings and statements followed from Governor-General Cindy Kiro, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann. Labour Party MP Ibrahim Omer offered the first Muslim prayer heard from Te Whare Wananga on Waitangi Day.

Shane Reti spoke for National’s leader Chris Luxon seeking love and unity, police commissioner Andrew Coster for “restoration and healing” after a challenging few years, Chief of Navy David Proctor for guidance as New Zealand moved forward “into our shared future”.

It almost seemed as if dawn would come without a storm when Paumea McKay, aged 82 and a NZSAS veteran living in Kaitaia, got to his feet to have his say.

For all the volume achieved, McKay didn’t quite manage to get his message across as police moved to quell the disturbance despite his assertion tikanga allowed him to do so. McKay resisted before being led away by multiple officers, later telling the Herald he wanted to spell out the difference between God’s laws and those made by man.

Being dragged away was, he said, a “tauiwi (foreign people) way of making you sit down”.

With the service done and no breakfast to queue for this year, the crowd slowly fell apart as people wandered across the expansive treaty grounds.

At the flagpole, a group of indigenous Australians spoke of how they had come to Waitangi as part of efforts to revitalise their language. “Unfortunately, our language is critically endangered,” said Clark Webb from Gumbaynggirr, Australia, where fewer than two dozen people maintained fluent. “So part of this job is to come and see and learn how Māori people educate their children through their lens.”

TW060223NADwaitangiozzies.JPG Members of the Giingan Yiiliway Girrwaa people from Gumbaynggirr country, Australia, join the Waitangi Day festivities. Photo / Tania Whyte

Australia had no binding agreement between the state and the First Nations. “There needs to be some serious investment. And it’s really reparations for the damage that’s been done to our cultures and to our communities.”

New Zealand, though, has been travelling this road for 183 years - or longer, if you speak to the many advocates of He Whakaputanga, the Declaration of Independence signed by 34 chiefs in 1835.

There remained challenges on that shared road. Hipkins told the media afterwards: “It’s easy to create division when it comes to race relations. It tends not to come from Government but from those who want to be in government.”

It was a comment reflecting the friction created over issues raised around “co-governance”, a term Hipkins has conceded was not well explained.

Hipkins offered a different term on Waitangi morning - “mahitahi” which he called a “fantastic concept … embodied in the spirit of the treaty”. “Working together is a great thing.”

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins speaks to media after the dawn ceremony's conclusion.

On either side of Waitangi River the serious observance of the early morning service gave way to a festival atmosphere.

On one side was the fairground, fast food and multiple stalls on a long sloping stretch of grass opposite the treaty grounds with performances from Don McGlashan and Troy Kingi. Across the bridge were the campground, kai stalls and forum tent of Te Tii Marae.

The bridge was closed to traffic and those many thousands who came wandered the foreshore from the challenging korero of Te Tii Marae’s forum to the fun rides, healthy and unhealthy food and treaty grounds looking over the Bay of Islands.

This year’s service came after Covid-19 forced a break in commemorations last year. The disconnect saw changes to proceedings with security concerns meaning there was no cooked breakfast after four years of the country’s leaders literally serving the people.

Fairground rides, food stalls and market stands with a broad range of souvenirs and other offerings at Waitangi. Photo/ Tania Whyte

Northland police Inspector Dean Robinson said there were no arrests after the “really successful” Waitangi festivities. “We’re really happy with how it went. A great atmosphere, and great to see the community coming together.”

Waitangi National Trust chairman Pita Tipene said the message that shone through both Sunday’s pōwhiri and yesterday’s Dawn Service was the need for unity while celebrating diversity.

“In the Dawn Service there was a call for more light on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the future of this nation and less heat that some are tending to focus on. We need more illumination of what the Treaty of Waitangi is all about,” he said.

Tipene said it was time now to think of the upcoming bicentennial in 2040. “The Government also needs to start thinking in terms of tangible symbols, like Te Whare Rūnanga (the Treaty Grounds’ carved meeting house) and the waka Ngātokimatawhaorua that were built for the centenary in 1940. We’ve got to start thinking about it now.”